If We Were Mortal
by TheGreekGoddessAthena
Summary: If they were mortal, nothing at all and absolutely everything would be the same.


A/N: This long one-shot has been bugging me to write it. Here it is! There is some Pothena, for the non-Pothenians out there. But there is also Thalico, and Percabeth! I hope you like!

Quick note(s): 1 In this, Zeus is NOT Athena's dad. That'd be weird. He's younger than her in this.  
>2 The ages in Athena's and Poseidon's family are messed up. Mostly Athena's. Poseidon's I don't know, really. I know, I know. I have it like that because I wanted to make it seem more realistic than godly.<br>3 Athena's family and Poseidon's family are NOT directly related.

I don't own PJO

_Athena & Poseidon-10 years old_

Athena was ten years old. She had a big family, but no father. Her mother, Metis, was too caring ever to turn away a child. Every year or so, she'd find a note that said, "I can't take care of them. They belong to you now. Name them whatever you will." Even at a young age, Athena knew her father was what people called a 'womanizer'.

Athena was the oldest, at age ten. Behind were Apollo and Artemis, the twins, at eight years old. Followed came Aphrodite, seven. After that was Hermes, five. After Hermes at age four was Dionysus. At age three was Ares. And the latest one, at nine months old, was Hephaestus. Eight children, one mother, and no father. Metis was a saint. Luckily, their grandmother, Tethys, helped and took care of her adopted grandchildren while Metis worked her shift as a Pediatrician every day.

Poseidon had just moved into the neighborhood. He, too, was ten. His older sister, Hestia, was fourteen and the peacemaker of the family. Demeter, age twelve, was also Poseidon's older sister. Poseidon landed as one in the middle of the family at age ten. Behind him at age seven was Hades. At three was Hera and then at age two was Zeus. Their parents were still together; Kronos and Rhea.

"Mother! Why must I, of all of us go?" Athena asked. "Besides, that water boys keeps acting mean to me,"

Metis smiled. "You're the oldest, honey. And when boys act mean to girls, do you know what that means?"

Athena thought. "Yes. It means they think we have cooties."

Metis laughed at her daughter. "No, silly. Boys really don't think girls have cooties. They like girls!"

"Mom! They still think we have cooties! Aphrodite and I walked outside yesterday, and they ran away! Mostly that little one, the one who's fascinated with gruesome toys." Athena told her mother.

"Athena, you'll be fine. I've got to go! Take the cookies over to them and tell them that we're glad they're here, okay?"

Athena sighed. "Okay."

As Metis pulled out of the driveway, Athena walked across her yard into the new family's. She went to the door and, carefully, rung the bell. A woman who looked no older than thirty five came to the door in an apron. "Oh, hello, dear! Come in, won't you?" She opened the door for Athena. The little girl handed the woman the plate.

"My mom said to say that we're glad you're here. I'm not. The rest are. Well, all but Aphrodite, too. We just don't like water boy. The rest of you are fine." The woman smiled.

"Poseidon? Yes, he is very immature. What's your name, sweetie?"

"Athena," Athena said. "Yours?"

"Rhea. I'm so glad we found another family with Greek names! I thought we were the only ones," Rhea said.

Athena shrugged. "I don't care. I like my family's names. Especially Artemis. She's the only one that gets me. We're not much of boy-liking-girls. This is odd for our age. Studies prove that girls around—"

"Mom! What's _she _doing here?" A boy asked, walking up behind his mother.

"She gave us these," Rhea said, handing her son a sugar cookie. He gave it back.

"No way! They're probably poisoned," and he walked away.

Athena glared at the boy.

"I'm sorry about him," Rhea said.

Once again, Athena shrugged. "It's fine. None of the boys at school talk to me anyway. I think they're just intimidated by my complex mind." Athena turned and shut the door behind her.

Rhea faced her son, who had turned to walk back now that Athena was gone. "Hear that? She doesn't have many school friends," Rhea said, giving a slight smile towards him. "Be nice to her; befriend her."

Poseidon shook his head. "Never."

_Athena & Poseidon-14_

Everybody in freshman class sat, bored. They had all finished the test five minutes ago, but there was still five minutes left of the class period. Athena began scribbling things into her agenda. She bent down to unzip her book bag to put the agenda in, when a note landed on her desk. It read:

**Athena: (Open it up) **she rolled her eyes at this part.  
><strong>Listen, I'm sorry about the way my brothers and I have been acting towards your family since we moved. How about we make up for it? You come over to my place?<strong>

She scribbled something back. _Poseidon:  
>Are you pranking me? Poseidon, I don't like you. You don't like me. What caused the sudden change of heart?<em>

**Your eyes.**

_How cheesy. Seriously._

**Okay, okay. I need help with algebra. I'm failing and if I get kicked out of the swim team (or fail…) my parents will murder me.**

_Good. Then I won't have to deal with you again._

**Athena….**

_Fine. But just for the semester. After that, you're on your own. Today's a Friday. How about every Friday I review what we go over with you, okay?_

**Thanks, Feather Brains. You're the best.**

_Whatever, Water Boy._

1st Friday

"Okay, so basically you just take A times X and add 24. You have to find the—are you even listening?" Athena asked.

"Huh? What?" Poseidon looked over to her. He smiled sheepishly. "Sorry."

"I'm not going to do this unless you take it seriously." She said.

4th Friday

"Wow! You got an 85 on the exam, Poseidon!" Athena exclaimed.

He shrugged. "You helped a little,"

She rolled her eyes. "A little. Sure, Poseidon. Whatever you say."

7th Friday

"You got twenty three out of twenty five questions right on the homework. Fix problems twelve and eighteen."

"Hey, I didn't think that was bad," Poseidon said.

"It's not bad at all. If that were worth a hundred points, though, you would've gotten a 92. Not bad, Poseidon, but you can do better."

"Hey, Improvements."

11th Friday

"How'd you do?" Poseidon asked, setting his book bag down.

"A 110%," Athena said.

"110? How?"

"I actually got the advanced problems right." Athena said.

"Right…"

"The real question is how did you do?" Athena asked him.

Poseidon shrugged. "I don't know…is a 95 good?"

Athena's eyes widened. "Poseidon! That's awesome!" She threw her arms around him. He drew his arms around her tiny waist, but the two quickly retreated as soon as they figured what they were doing.

"Uh, so. Multiplicative Inverses. Great, right?" Poseidon asked.

Athena blushed. "Nothing better…"

15th Friday

By this time, the two were used to hugging when good grades were received. But something odd had happened; Athena got a 91.

"What?" Poseidon asked. "Not possible. I'm sure she meant…119?" he shrugged.

Athena plopped down on his couch. "That is the lowest grade I've ever gotten. Kill me now!" She put her head in her hands. She spoke, but it sounded muffled. All Poseidon caught was, "You", "Study Guide", and "I feel so stupid".

He put it together.

"You go a B because you spent all week making the study guide for me, right?" Poseidon asked. She nodded. "Well, then, it's my fault. I'm sorry, Athena."

She looked up with teary eyes.

"Oh God, I've made you cry!" he said. "I can't deal with girls crying! Hestia going to college, Hera losing her doll…I can't do this! Don't cry!"

Athena slightly smiled. "You didn't make me cry, Poseidon." She pointed at the test. "Miss Ryan did."

Poseidon shrugged. "So what? One high B plus isn't going to ruin your life, Feather Brain."

She rolled her eyes. "I know. You get them all the time," she said, smiling.

18th Friday

"Thanks for helping me this semester…" Poseidon said.

Athena nodded. It was seven o'clock, and getting dark. She had decided to stay there and do all her homework since Poseidon seemed to know the algebra. "No problem,"

"Without your help, I would be benched right now," Poseidon said. "And I love swimming. So…thanks. For real."

Athena smiled and picked up her beaten bag. As she turned, Poseidon stopped her. "Wait," he said.

She turned. "What?"

"Why don't you come over tomorrow?" he asked. When he saw the confused look on Athena's face, he said, "You know, just to…uh…hang out."

She smiled. "Sure,"

"Wait, Athena," he said. As she turned once more to face him, he did something she had a feeling he would do.

He kissed her.

_Athena & Poseidon-16_

They hadn't been dating. No, they were friends. Friends who kissed, and went out on dates. Nothing more. But when a stupid project rolled around, that changed everything.

"I say we do one on the myth the Battle of Athens!" Athena said.

"No way! Besides, we got paired together. Poseidon and Athena. Poseidon and Athena were the two people _in _the Battle of Athens! You're going to, first of all, make yourself look good, and second of all, make me look like my namesake lost to a girl!"

"Because he did!"

Poseidon glared. "No. We're not doing the Battle of Athens."

"What are we doing then? It's either that one of the Apple of Discord. And I absolutely hate that one!"

"Why, because Athena actually loses?" He asked.

She crossed her arms. "No, because I did a report on that back in the seventh grade. Remember? We had to do a play. Of course I got chosen for Athena, and do you remember what happened? You got picked as Paris and totally embarrassed me while I was saying my lines! Everybody remembers that, Poseidon!"

"I was twelve, Athena. The only reason I embarrassed you was because I had a _crush _on you!"

Awkward…

"What?" she asked. "You still hated me,"

"For such a bright girl, you know nothing about the male mind, do you?" he asked her.

"Not really," she shrugged.

"I still like you, Athena." He said.

"OOOH! POSEIDON'S GOT A GIRLFRIEND! POSEIDON'S GOT A GIRLFRIEND!" Zeus, eight, yelled from behind the two. "Mom! Poseidon and Athena loooooove each other!"

"Do I see a wedding in the near future?" Hera, nine, asked. She had always wanted to be a wedding planner.

"Of course not, Hera." Hestia said. She had come back from college for Spring Break; theirs was longer than the high schoolers'. "No need to start a fight,"

Hades sat, un-amused. "I hate love."

"Don't you think thirteen's a bit too young to worry about romances?" Athena asked Poseidon's younger brother.

Hades shrugged. "I don't know. All I know is around that time you two started eating each other's faces off."

The two blushed.

"Hey, we were fourteen." Poseidon muttered.

"Same thing," Hades shrugged.

"Well…Battle of Athens?"

"Why don't we take a break and just go out and eat, okay?" Poseidon asked.

Athena grinned. "Okay. But after that, we're starting the Battle of Athens."

"Apple of Discord."

"Do you really want me to get embarrassed again?"

"Yes! That would be hilarious!"

"You know what would be hilarious? Me dumping you when your parents are watching."

"My parents aren't watching."

"No, not now. But when they are—"

"I LIKE IT BETTER WHEN YOU TWO ARE SUCKING EACH OTHER'S FACE OFF! AT LEAST YOU SHUT UP!" Hestia yelled. "Thank you,"

_Athena & Poseidon-18_

"Athena, what's wrong?" Aphrodite asked. She had just turned fifteen, and was upset because Athena was leaving for college in a day. But Athena was more upset. "Are you worried about going off to college? 'Cause I can't help you there…I'm not really gonna go to college. Only I am, but in fashion classes…"

Athena groaned into her pillow. She said, "It's not you, Aph," from talking into the pillow, it sounded like, "It's ought oo, Aph."

"Then what is it? Are you sad about leaving Poseidon behind?" she questioned.

"Not at all!" which came out as "Ought tat tall!"

Aphrodite sighed. "What'd the blockhead do this time?"

"Medusa."

"He was cheating on you?" Aphrodite gasped. Athena nodded into her pillow. "Darn that boy,"

Athena sighed and lifted herself off the bed, her face red from tears. "Why?"

"Hun, Medusa's very pretty. The nickname we made for her doesn't suit her…but anyway, Poseidon's not worth your tears! Do what the goddess Athena did. Get back at the two."

"I don't have time." Athena said. "I'm leaving for college tomorrow. I have to finish packing."

"No way! You go give that water boy a piece of your mind, Athena! I'll pack for you!"

Sighing, Athena asked Aphrodite to leave her room. Her younger sister nodded and left. Athena sat at her desk and scribbled something down on a piece of paper.

The next morning, Athena walked over to Poseidon's house. She had her car packed and ready, and was just saying goodbye.

She knocked on the door. An aged Rhea opened it. "Come in, come in. Poseidon should be home from swimming practice in an hour," she said.

"Thanks. Are all of the kids here?" Athena asked.

Rhea nodded. "Even Demeter and Hestia came for the summer break."

"Thanks." Athena said walking in. She placed her hand over her shorts pocket, where the crumpled letter was. She found herself walking up the stairs to all of the family's rooms. She knocked on the first door. It was Hera's and Demeter's room. Demeter opened the door and welcomed Athena in. "Hey, college girl." She said. "It's great! You'll love it, I swear." Athena smiled.

"I sure hope so." Athena said. "I'm leaving now, so I just came to say goodbye!" Hera and Demeter bid her farewell, and she headed to the two young boys' room.

Hades opened the door. "Hi, Athena. You have the wrong room, Poseidon's is next door."

"I know, boys. I'm headed off. Just thought I'd say goodbye," she told the ten and fifteen year olds.

The two boys nodded, Zeus too occupied with his video game. "Bye, 'Thena." He mumbled.

Hades said goodbye as well, and she shut the door. She went the opposite way than Hades directed and opened it up to find Hestia reading. Out of the whole family, Hestia was the only one that really knew Athena.

"Hey," Athena said.

Hestia looked up from the novel. "Hi, Athena! How's life?"

"Not so great." Athena admitted. "But I just came to say goodbye. I'm leaving for college in..." she checked her watch. "Ten minutes."

Hestia smiled and hugged the younger girl. "Have fun! Freshman year's the best," she said. "You'll enjoy yourself there. Even if Poseidon's not going with you."

Athena nodded. "Yeah," she said. "I will."

As she walked away from Hestia's room, she found herself face-to-face with Poseidon's door. She knew he wasn't in there, but she walked in anyway. She took the crumpled, tear stained letter and set it on his bed. As she turned, she saw many pictures of the two, together. She shook off the memories, walked down the stairs, and gave Kronos and Rhea a goodbye.

"It's such a shame Poseidon isn't here to send you off," Rhea said. "We'll miss you, Athena. You've really grown on the family."

"Thanks. You guys have grown on me, too." She left the house, knowing very well that would be the last time she saw many of them.

_An hour later…_

Poseidon had just gotten back from swimming practice. "Where's Athena's car? She was here before I left," he asked his mom.

"Honey, she just left to go to NYU." Rhea said.

"What? Without saying goodbye?" he asked.

"She said goodbye…to us." Rhea said softly. "She left something in your room, Poseidon. You might want to go read it."

I quickly jogged up the stairs, getting to my room as quick as possible. I looked around, and found a letter on my bed.

_Poseidon,_

_Half of me is sorry that I can't say goodbye to you, to your face. Half of me is telling me that it's the best way._

_I saw you with "Medusa." No need apologizing, it's truly fine. Like I said the day I brought cookies to your family, not many boys like me, anyway. I saw that coming, Poseidon. I just hoped you wouldn't be one of those guys._

_I know it was only a kiss, but when a girl wants a kiss goodbye from her boyfriend, she doesn't want that kiss to belong to another girl. That's just an FYI for the next time a girl wants to say goodbye to you._

_I'm off to NYU; you're going all the way to UCLA. You know NYU has a good architectural program. There's really no use in getting back together again; long distance relationships never work out._

_Yes, I did say no use getting __back__ together…I don't think I can do this, Poseidon. If you're willing to kiss girls while we're both still in New York, how many girls will you get with when you're in CA?_

_Sorry I had to break it off this way. Writing is the most immature way to break up with someone. But I really don't feel bad about it—it was obviously a mutual agreement._

_No matter what, Poseidon, you'll always be my first boyfriend. I don't regret anything about this relationship. I just hope you don't, either._

_Best of Luck,  
>Athena.<em>

_Athena & Poseidon-29_

Eleven years had passed since the two had contact with each other. They had both grown up and gotten married. Now, they were raising families. Athena was married to an airplane operator/scientist named Frederick Chase. She had a seven year old, Malcolm, a five year old, Annabeth, and twins at the age of two, Matthew and Bobby.

Poseidon had married a woman named Sally Jackson. She was a stay-at-home mom to their only child, Perseus. They called him Percy, though. Percy was five years old.

Athena and Frederick stayed in their homeland; New York. The two had met at NYU; Frederick was a year ahead of her and helped her around. Poseidon had met Sally in New York, when she used to work at a candy store. They had found out that Sally was pregnant right after they got engaged. Sally and Poseidon moved to a new house in New York three weeks before baby Percy was born.

Now, Athena was dropping her daughter off for her first day of Kindergarten. Poseidon was doing the same with Percy. As Poseidon got to the door, a dark-haired woman and her blonde daughter reached the door. "Thank you," the woman said. "Wait…Poseidon?"

"Athena?"

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

He pointed towards Percy. "Dropping my son off."

"How old is he?"

"Five. His name's Percy."

"Annabeth is five as well. Maybe they'll make good friends," Athena said. "Annabeth's in Miss Iris's class. What about Percy?"

"He's in the same as well."

Annabeth looked over at Percy. "Let's go inside," she said. "Our parents are taking too long to talk."

Percy smiled. "Bye, Daddy! I'm taking Annie inside!"

"Bye, Percy. Have fun! I'll be here at two thirty."

"Bye Mommy!" Annabeth said. She grabbed Percy's small hand with her own. "Let's go, Perce."

"They made friends fast," Poseidon said.

_Athena & Poseidon- 46_

"Congrats, guys!" Thalia Grace, Annabeth's close friend, said. "Now if only the big dope di Angelo here would pop the question to me soon,"

"Thals don't make this about you. Percy and Annabeth just got married today!" Nico said.

Thalia rolled her eyes. "You just don't want to get married."

"Nope." Nico said, smiling.

"Well okay then. I guess I won't tell you I'm pregnant, then!"

Annabeth's eyes got wide. "Oh my God, Thalia! That's great!" She said, hugging her best friend.

Percy wrapped an arm around Annabeth. "What do you want? One of each? Two and one? Two and two?"

"We'll get busy later, Mr. Jackson. I believe we should congratulate the two parents now, though, don't you?" Annabeth asked.

"But we just got hitched," Percy said. "It's about us now!"

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "You act like you're a savior of Olympus or something."

"Come on, Annabeth. Just because our families are all Greek doesn't mean I bear the curse of Achilles or something." Percy said.

"No, but it does still make you my knight in shining armor." Annabeth said, leaning her head against his shoulder.

Nico, however, just got out of shock. "Are you serious? Thalia! Really! We have to get engaged! This kid's gotta have a good father figure. I'll show him all my awesome dark magic tricks." Nico said.

"Joy," Thalia muttered. "But yes, it's true!"

"Aw, congrats, guys!" Annabeth said.

"Yeah, yeah. Let's go eat some blue cake now!" Percy said.

"Is it that time already? Come on, Perce. We've got a cake to cut!"

Athena smiled as she watched the two. A hand gripped her shoulder. She turned to see Poseidon. "They remind me so much of us," she whispered, "before college. But somehow, they made it out alright."

Poseidon smiled. "Hey, we can't be together, Otherwise our kids wouldn't be together, and they'd be with the wrong person. You wouldn't want that, right?"

Athena shook her head. "Never. I'm just glad Annabeth chose a great guy. I'll admit, after the two had become teenagers, I didn't like Percy very much. But he's very sweet now. A bit dull, but sweet, nonetheless."

Poseidon nodded. "Annabeth certainly takes after you."

Sally and Frederick walked up to the two. "Hey, in-laws!" Sally said, smiling. "It's nice to know Percy has a full family now. With him being the only child, he was always complaining about no siblings. Now he has some!"

"Well, I certainly don't want to miss them smacking cake on each other. Let's go!" Poseidon said.

And it was true. Percy and Annabeth were very messy eaters when it came to wedding cake.

_**And they all lived happily ever after. THE END!**_

A/N: That only took me a night and morning to write! I hope you enjoyed!

I love feedback almost as much as Aphrodite loves love!

~Suzie


End file.
